Cops arrest California man for filming them and then kill his dog (VIDEO)

California police on Sunday arrested a man for playing music and videotaping them, and then fatally shot his pet dog after the animal jumped from an open car window.

Police arrested Leon Rosby, 52, near the scene of a SWAT
barricade in Hawthorne, California. Officers were responding to
an armed robbery, and claimed Rosby was disturbing the crime
scene by playing loud music and videotaping the showdown with his
cell phone.

“They had asked me why am I there?” Rosby later told NBC4.
“And I said I was filming them so that no one’s civil rights
were being violated.”

Cell phone video from a witness shows Rosby walking his dog while
watching the police response to the robbery. The Usher song “Tell
Me Again” was playing on repeat in his parked rental car, which
had the windows rolled down.

Police claim that Rosby ignored their first request to turn down
the music. Hawthorne police Lt. Scott Swain told the Daily Breeze
that it interfered with their response to the robbery. A neighbor
claims that Rosby cursed at police in response – a statement that
the 52-year-old denies.

"It's distracting the officers," Swain said. "It's
interfering with what they are able to hear. It's not just a
party call. It's an armed robbery call. The officers need to hear
what's going on with the people being called out of the
residence. That music in his car is bleeding over and it’s
distracting them.”

Rosby admitted that he should have complied, but believes the
police response was unnecessarily brutal. After officers arrested
the suspected robber, they motioned to Rosby and told him to put
the dog in his car. He complied, leaving his Rottweiler in the
backseat with the windows open.

Rosby then walked toward the officers, turned and put his hands
behind his back, waiting to be arrested. As the man was being
handcuffed, the dog started barking loudly and jumped out of the
window. While barking, the dog approached the police, and video
footage shows the 130-pound animal lunging at one officer.

“I said, ‘No, Max!” Rosby told the Daily Breeze,
describing his reaction to the barking dog. One police officer
took out his gun and fired four shots at the dog, fatally
wounding the animal. The dog writhed in pain, kicking its back
legs and convulsing until it died on the street. Rosby’s knees
buckled as he cried out for his dog. He later told NBC4 that his
animal was not just shot, but “executed”.

"There was no way Max should have died like that," Rosby
said. "Max was only protecting his master. He was trying to
stop them from beating on me.”

Neighbors who were at the scene cried out at the sight of the
dying dog, and witness Samantha Othieno told ABC7 that she is
deeply disturbed by what she saw.

“I started screaming,” she said. “Now I’m traumatized.
I never saw someone get shot or get killed or see anything get
killed like that.”

After the dog was shot to death, Rosby was taken to the police
station and spent a night in jail on suspicion of obstruction. He
was released Monday morning. He claims police
were out to get him because of previous encounters with officers.
Rosby already filed six complaints against the Hawthorne Police
Department for mistreatment and racial profiling.

“There’s been a pattern of harassment against him and other
African-Americans in Hawthorne,” Rosby’s attorney, Michael
Gulden, told the Daily Breeze. “Last July, the police
responded to his home and beat him unnecessarily, then threw him
in jail for no reason. We sued for that. We’ll amend that
complaint to include the dog incident.”